Among the glitterari at last night’s opening of “a Madison Avenue pop-up thrift shop benefiting the renovated New York City Opera” were Austin Scarlett (Project Runway) and Alex McCord (Real Housewives of New York City). As they (and others less celebrated) perused the gently-used frocks, George Steel discussed tube steak with the Wall Street Journal:…
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La Cieca has obtained a copy of the main part of the email sent to AGMA members by the organization’s national executive director Alan Gordon in the wake of yesterday’s abortive meeting with NYCO’s George Steel.
La Cieca’s insider whispers (or, more accurately, shouts): “AGMA walked out of the meeting on Monday. They refused to negotiate. Gordon said Steel‘s demands were more destructive then expected, worse than 802’s.” The New York City Opera season is scheduled to begin in 135 days.
“I don’t see how they could not close…There is a slight chance that they can remain open, but where would the money come from?” That’s Robert W. Wilson, former New York City Opera chairman, deftly nabbing the takeaway quote from Robin Pogrebin‘s NYT analysis of what went wrong for the company. And wait until you…
La Cieca hears that Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians has reached an agreement with the New York City Opera. Since AGMA agreed in their meeting on May 18 that they would go with whatever 802 decided, “it looks like the season is safe for now,” says our informant.
“Well, you know, this will sound crazy, but because I spent many, many years as a choirboy, I think about service music all the time.” The Man of Steel is Mad About Music on WNYC with Gilbert Kaplan.
La Cieca received this letter yesterday. If you have reviews, opinion pieces, appreciations, or (as in this case) a Letter to the Doyenne, please email to [email protected]. Saving New York City Opera?
In what must be regarded as the season’s most startling volte-face, next month the New York City Opera will perform opera. As part of the River to River Festival, the company will present a tab version of The Magic Flute, Massenet’s La Navarraise and a concert of the usual pops stuff. Performances June 25-27 will…
Earlier today, NYCO’s George Steel fired back in what is apparently escalating into a war of words with AGMA honcho Alan Gordon. In an email to “the [New York City] Opera family” obtained by parterre.com, Steel seeks “to address [AGMA’s] misleading statements” while reminding AGMA members that he and NYCO “remain committed for our part…
Don’t go saying George Steel‘s opera company is broke, you hear?Â
The American Guild of Musical Artists said in a memo to members that “given the changes that George Steel wants to make in our contract, members are advised that the possibility of a strike against New York City Opera is likely.” At issue is what AGMA characterizes as Steel’s intention to eliminate guarantees of work…
Articulate, awe-inspring, alliterative administrator The Man of Steel spoke yesterday to New York One, defining his vision for the mission of the New York City Opera: “Championing new repertoire and discovering old repertoire. And particularly promoting American operas and American opera singers and providing visionary new productions of standard repertoire. So it’s a very clear…
Bloomberg News (your go-to source for bad news about New York City Opera) today laments that the company has “once again reached deep into its endowment.” According to scribe Zinta Lundborg, that endowment has suffered perhaps irreversible shinkage, dwindling from a massive, bulging $51 million in 2001 to a puny, humiliating $3 million currently. Lundborg suggests…
La Cieca hears vague rumors from here and there that there something major is going to happen with New York CIty Opera this week, possibly as early as today. According to an insider over the weekend “wagons [were] circling,” perhaps in reaction to the admission that the company has spent down over 2/3 of its endowment in…
Remember a couple of weeks ago when La Cieca called that NYT story about a potential strike at the New York City Opera “the scariest Friday news dump ever?” Well, she was wrong, wrong, wrong. The winner and new bone-chilling champion of all Friday news dumps just sneaked into the Times online. (Those of you…
La Cieca hears that the Man of Steel‘s spring 2010 season will go something like this:Â
Those of you who may be toying with the idea of a trip to the city this fall to check out the New and Improved York City Opera may be interested to hear the performance schedule for the company’s fall season. Remember these dates are provisional they should give you an idea of how the repertory sorts out.…
In what might be the scariest Friday news dump ever, the New York Times calls a job action by AGMA against the New York City Opera “likely.” [NYT]
Yes, La Cieca realizes it was all hashed out a week ago here in the blogosphere, but Daniel J. Wakin of the New York Times has finally got around to transcribing the New York City Opera’s press release about its new season. As you all know, the season opener will be Esther, starring Lauren Flanigan.…
La Cieca hears that the New York City Opera will present four five productions during their 2009-2010 season, including a new staging of Don Giovanni directed by David Christopher Alden and starring Daniel Okulitch (pictured). Revivals of “old” NYCO productions at The David H. Koch Theater include Weisgall’s Esther (with Lauren Flanigan), L’etoile, Partenope and…
It’s been nearly a month since the last spurt of news about the New York City Opera, which, for those of you with not particularly long memories, is or was an opera company just off to the side of the Met at Lincoln Center. Well, now the first big story of March has crossed La Cieca’s desk.…
Now, you know La Cieca likes taking a confrontational attitude with operatic authority figures as much as any other gadfly. But she is going to say that this Jeremy Gerard may be carrying the bitch-slapping just a wee bit too far in his current Bloomberg.com screed on the New York City Opera’s year-long hiatus (“City…
UPDATE:Â “Joining City Opera will be Director of Artistic Planning Edward Yim, perhaps best known for playing an integral role in the exciting and highly successful multidisciplinary programming at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Casting Advisor Steven Blier, an eminent pianist and vocal coach who is equally at home in the traditional operatic repertoire and…
In the spirit of the equal time for all impresarios, La Cieca will note that both of New York’s operatic honchos will be making public appearances this week. Tomorrow (February 10)the Met’s Peter Gelb will do his annual season announcment pitch to the media, an event La Cieca will liveblog (connectivity permitting) for your information…
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